Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 534: Opening up the Southern Frontier
In Zhuti County of Qianwei Commandery, Meng Da led more than 7,000 soldiers and horses, falsely claiming to have 30,000, and stationed in a camp in the Zhuti Mountain area.
Now, Qianwei County is basically the battlefield of the civil strife in Yizhou. On one side is the Xichuan forces of the Shu Marquis, and on the other side are the Nanzhong clans of the southern Yizhou County and Zangke County, as well as the Nanzhong tribes of Yongchang County...
The so-called "invasion of the Southern Barbarians" was actually not an invasion but a civil strife if we were to be precise. Most of the "Southern Barbarians" came from within the map of the Han Dynasty, that is, the southern part of Yizhou, but their influence did not spread there. Once war and chaos came and the dynasty declined, it was no longer possible to see that this was the territory of the Han Dynasty.
More than a hundred years ago, Yongchang County had not yet become part of the Han Dynasty's territory, but was the place where the ancient Ailao people lived. More than 130 years ago, the Ailao King submitted to the Han Dynasty. Although there were rebellions later, the Han Dynasty successfully suppressed them.
The so-called Ailao Kingdom was actually a tribal alliance state.
More than a hundred years ago, the King of Ailao brought more than 500,000 people to submit to the Han Dynasty. These more than 500,000 subjects were divided into 77 princes, which felt very much like the early Shang and Zhou dynasties, when there were hundreds of kings at any time.
The so-called city king actually ruled over not much more people than the people that the village chief had to coordinate.
A few years later, the next generation of Ailao King, probably feeling that he had not gained any benefits, started a vigorous rebellion as soon as he "took office". At that time, the Eastern Han Dynasty was still relatively strong and easily quelled the rebellion. Then the remaining Ailao people moved westward and became the current Shan Kingdom. The Shan Kingdom was the predecessor of the Nanzhao Kingdom in the Tang Dynasty, and the Nanzhao Kingdom was the predecessor of the Dali Kingdom in the Song Dynasty...
There is a large and famous city in the northern part of Jianwei County, which is also where Zhang Ren’s main force is now located - Jiangyang.
Jiangyang is close to the Lu River, so it has another name in later generations, Luzhou.
It is not the "Luzhou" of Hefei, but the "Luzhou" of Luzhou Laojiao. Similarly, Zhuti County where Meng Da is now located is also named after Zhuti Mountain. Hundreds of miles southwest of Zhuti Mountain, there is an even more famous mountain - Niulan Mountain.
Following the distribution of the smell of the wine, we can know the general trend of Xichuan's current response to the Nanman.
The southern barbarians in the actual Han Dynasty territory are basically in Maotai... No, it's the "Gui" part of Yunnan and Guizhou. Most of the "Yun" part was incorporated more than a hundred years ago, and there is still a part that has not yet been incorporated, which is the current Shan Kingdom.
But just like the Ailao in the past, it was just a tribal alliance.
Faced with this southern barbarian invasion which was actually a "civil strife", Xichuan's bottom line was Lushui, and its target was Jianwei County. As for Yizhou County, Yongchang County, and Zangke County... that was all.
Therefore, Jiangyang was the base camp for suppressing the rebellion in Xichuan, and people like Meng Da had led their troops to Niulan Mountain south of Lushui alone, which was considered to be a deep penetration into enemy territory.
In history without the White Rabbit Effect, when Zhuge Liang pacified the Southern Barbarians, he also used the Lu River as the dividing line...
And Zhuge Liang did it very thoroughly, or rather... he let go very thoroughly.
From crossing the Lushui River to the south to quell the rebellion, half a year later they had already returned north from the Lushui River. The whole process was very quick and efficient - it would have been unsuccessful, after all, the disaster of the southern barbarians in history happened just after Liu Bei's death.
If Zhuge Liang had not quickly suppressed the Southern Barbarians, Shu Han would have had no peace. Not only would other clans in other places see the "feat" of the Southern clans, but if the rebellion lasted for a long time, it would also mean that Prime Minister Zhuge would not be able to convince the people!
However, Zhuge Liang's decisiveness was not without its hidden dangers...
Why was it that Bai Tu, with its superior technology and greatly boosted productivity as bargaining chips, took seven or eight years to subdue the Shanyue and only achieved the current "naturalization rate", while Zhuge Liang had nothing, but led tens of thousands of Han troops south and subdued the Nanman in just half a year?
The secret lies in the fact that Zhuge Liang "submitted" but did not "accept".
In fact, after Zhuge Liang led his troops back north, his mission was not complete. Instead, he completely transferred back all the Han troops south of Jiangyang.
On the one hand, the rebels were defeated and subdued, and on the other hand... a greater degree of autonomy was given to the major clans in southern China.
That is to say, the tactical problem was solved at the tactical level, and Zhuge Liang also "solved" the strategic problem at the same time by removing the root of the problem.
Not only were the rebels defeated, but the big families in Nanzhong who had been stirring up trouble in the first place felt that the Xichuan forces had no future after Liu Bei's fall, and they did not want to die with him, yet at the same time they wanted to gain greater benefits. Now that they could govern themselves, as long as they paid taxes and provided soldiers every year, they could be "local emperors" with peace of mind. Even if the Xichuan regime collapsed, they could turn to the next owner and naturally would not cause trouble anymore.
In fact...it is a bit similar to the bottom line that Shi Xie fought for at the beginning.
This is completely different from Bai Tu's approach of moving people down the mountain, building cities and becoming naturalized citizens.
Now Jiaozhou is also undergoing large-scale development, while Xichuan is still hesitating about where to draw the bottom line when facing the Nanman.
More importantly, this "Southern Barbarian Invasion" is completely different from the one in history!
Now on the tactical level, the "Southern Barbarians" who were the main force of the rebel army were driven north by the Chu State, while on the strategic level, the big clans in the south are now joining in the commotion, mainly because Chu goods, or middlemen, have squeezed out their business of Shu brocade, mainly well salt.
Yizhou was not short of food to begin with, and with the "leadership" of Chu, it did not learn from Chu and transform it into food for the health of the people, that is, into meat, or convert part of the land into vegetable and fruit planting... It just blindly increased food production, which led to a large number of people in the previous Yizhou starting to move away from agricultural production and mainly focusing on the Shu brocade and well salt industries.
Whether at the tactical or strategic level, it is not a problem that Xichuan can solve.
Therefore, it is much more difficult for Zhang Ren to quell the rebellion now than it was for Zhuge Liang in history to quell the Southern Barbarians. He can only barely suppress the impact south of Jiangyang.
After all, the so-called southern barbarians of Yizhou were actually no match for the Han army in terms of strength. They just took advantage of the geographical location - the marching and stationing costs in the "barren land" were astonishingly high, not to mention the miasma and plague.
The Wuxi Independent Division led by Chen Gong and Shamoko also brought a reorganized army doctor for epidemic prevention before they dared to go deep into the area...
However, if the Han army really defended the area north of Lushui, on the plain with abundant supplies, it would still have an absolute advantage.
Zhang Ren, who is now in charge of Jiangyang, is naturally not satisfied with just "suppression". After all, he cannot analyze the essence of the situation. To him, this is just a rebellion on a larger scale involving hundreds of ethnic groups.
That's why Zhang Ren sent some generals, including Meng Da, to the south of Jiangyang in batches... At least he didn't want to give up Zangke and the northern part of Yizhou County.
However, the dilemma Zhang Ren is facing now is that he wants to quell the rebellion completely, but he has no follow-up support. Even if he wants to negotiate with the big families in Nanzhong, no one in Xichuan is willing to stand up and take the blame - after all, not everyone can make the decision to let go completely like Zhuge Liang did .
What's more... there are still people who are eyeing the Nanzhong market and don't want to give up. They want to continue using low-priced salt to exchange for Nanzhong's gold and silver. And these people still have a great influence on the policies of the Shuhou Mansion!
Unfortunately, although Zhang Ren was very dissatisfied with some decisions and important officials of the Shuhou Mansion, he did not change his loyalty.
In fact, Zhang Ren is the senior brother of Zhang Xiu and Zhao Yun - all three of them learned from the master of spearmanship, Tong Yuan.
Although Zhang Ren had never met his junior brother Zhao Yun, he was acquainted with Zhang Xiu.
However, this favor did not have the effect of inciting rebellion. Previously, a member of the Enlightenment Department was eager to succeed, but was discovered by Zhang Ren and beheaded in public...
At this time, Zhang Ren was in the general's tent again, fiddling with the sand table in front of him, and judging by his expression... he didn't seem to be in a very good mood.
Not long after, someone came to report that a scout had returned, and it was the scout that Zhang Ren had sent out more than two months ago!
Zhang Ren heard the voice and immediately replied, "Pass it on!"
A dusty general stumbled into the commander's tent. When he saw Zhang Ren, he said excitedly, "General! I have fulfilled my mission and found out the location of the Chu army! Unfortunately... the two brothers who went with me..."
Zhang Ren saw this and patted the scout on the shoulder, saying, "Don't worry, I will take good care of their families!"
In comparison, Zhang Ren's appearance is closer to Zhao Yun, and even... in appearance, he is younger than the rugged Zhang Xiu.
"Thank you, General. I will go deeper into the..."
"Let's talk in front of the sand table." Zhang Ren interrupted and led the scout to the sand table that was originally being adjusted.
This sand table is very rough because its scale is too large and covers the entire southern part of Yizhou in a broad sense, making it impossible to carry out detailed tactical simulations.
The scouts stepped forward and made some special changes, moving some landmarks - after all, the sand table was actually something that was passed down from the State of Chu. The principle was very simple, and the technology... there was no technology involved, it mainly depended on the level of information mastered!
In the past, the surveys of many terrains in Nanzhong by the Han government and Yizhou Prefecture were not accurate...
After correcting a few things, the scout pointed out the scope of Chu's influence from a position much closer than Zhang Ren had expected!
Many tribes south of Loujiang River, including those around Dianchi Lake, have begun to accept the arrangements made by the State of Chu.
Moreover, Loujiang River is in the southern part of Zangke County, and Dianchi Lake is almost in the northern part of Yizhou County!
The area around Dianchi Lake is less than 2,000 miles away from Jiangyang, and less than 1,000 miles away from Zhuti Mountain...
"What about to the west? How about Yongchang County?" Seeing this, Zhang Ren asked with a more serious expression.
"Chu people can be seen in almost all tribes in the eastern part of Yongchang County, even more so than in Zangke and Yizhou counties. I dare not go deep into them." The scout general explained with some guilt.
In other words, the situation in the west is even more serious, and even... the main force of the Chu army that attacked the Southern Barbarians is heading westward !
In fact, considering the terrain of Zangke and Yizhou counties, a distance of one or two thousand miles is already quite far.
This is not the later concept of "driving for half a day or a day", but the concept of "marching for two or three months, and various accidents may occur along the way".
However, you must know that what Zhang Ren is worried about now is not a direct attack from the Chu army. Those attacking Xichuan are just some of the southern barbarians who were "driven out" by the Chu army.
The distance is only one or two thousand miles, which means that outside this distance, most of the southwestern tribes are probably intimidated, and some of those who are not obedient... have also been driven within this one or two thousand miles.
Zhang Ren was also very confused. How many people did the Chu army send out? How could they cause the barbarians in southern Xinjiang to flee north?
How many supplies would be needed for so many people in southern Xinjiang? How much would transportation cost in a place like that?
"No wonder there are so many barbarians this time... You've worked hard, take a good rest later." After Zhang Renqiang calmed himself down, he comforted the scout and let him rest.
It can be seen intuitively from the sand table that the original settlements of the hundreds of ethnic groups in South Central China have basically been swept away!
In the southernmost and western parts of Yongchang County, which was originally the place with the lowest degree of sinicization and the lowest influence of the Han Dynasty, even scouts could not penetrate deep into it.
After being defeated, those who resisted the rule of Chu State headed north and were compressed into an area 2,000 miles away from Xichuan. They colluded with the Nanzhong clans that were recently dissatisfied with the Shu Marquis...
Of course, if Chen Gong had heard of Zhang Ren’s speculation, he would have sought justice and corrected it now.
It wasn't the Chu State that drove them away. This was just a normal development for the Chu State and it respected the will of each tribe. It's just... if someone took the initiative to attack the Chu army, it's always okay to fight back, right?
The tribes that are affiliated with the State of Chu are asking the Chu army for help. We can't just ignore it, right?
Chen Gong dared to say that what he did could stand up to scrutiny from the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Justice, and there was no problem at all!
At the same time, even the successful experience of Chen Gong and Shamoke in southern Xinjiang is now being promoted as an advanced example to the mountainous areas of Danzhou and Yizhou, as well as the Baiyue in southern Yangzhou.
In the past few years in southern Xinjiang, Chen Gong has explored a process of "Chuization" in this area with complex terrain, numerous tribes, and difficulty in being controlled by a unified force.
In addition to the independent division, Chen Gong also "asked" for a lot of pioneering troops from the State of Chu. Compared with pioneering overseas, the pioneering troops actually felt more at ease coming to southern Xinjiang.
Every time they arrived at a place, they would first station a part of the army there, and then the pioneer army would go through the process of surveying and developing resources - they would make use of the mountains and rivers, dig mines if there were any, reclaim land that was slightly flat, and even use fishing and hunting resources first...
At the same time, the independent division continued to send out scouts to explore piece by piece of land. When encountering tribes, they tried their best to avoid conflicts and just marked and replied in time.
Then, where there are tribes, the professionals of the pioneer army will contact them, and where there are no tribes, the surveyors will go directly to...
In short, we must try to find "profitable" places in units of hundreds of miles, no matter how poor and harsh the land is. Even if there is a poisonous spring or bad water, we must analyze the composition of the poisonous spring!
For the State of Chu, although the "poison springs" are poisonous, but... some of them are just not drinkable, but they are all treasures.
Only when it is really impossible, no matter how we calculate the resources, and the existing conditions cannot support survival, can we define a "no man's land". At the same time, we need to ensure that the "no man's land" is surrounded by a "development zone".
On the whole, we are constantly investigating and surveying...
The "development zone" should be developed to its full potential, and in order to allow resources to flow in and out, roads should naturally be built as much as possible - it doesn't matter if it makes a loss, as there are subsidies from the State of Chu.
Chen Gong’s idea was very clear. First, he wanted to take advantage of the productivity of the Chu State so that the same amount of land could "support" more Chu troops than the southern tribes, and even turn losses into profits.
Even if it is the same fishing, hunting and farming, Chu's advantages in tools and theories are obvious, and it also has the advantage of group operations in the development stage.
Moreover, there are many resources that are treasures for the State of Chu, but are useless and even a burden to the tribes in southern China.
As for the tribes we encountered, after the initial contact, they were roughly divided into two categories - one was willing to cooperate with the Chu State and jointly develop southern Xinjiang, and the other was unwilling to cooperate but willing to coexist and trade...
When facing the former, the pioneers will naturally cooperate sincerely. When facing the latter, they are also very welcoming and will take the initiative to divide the "boundaries" that will not bully others.
A tribe that is unwilling to coexist, invades borders, and attempts to use the interests of the hundreds of tribes in southern China as a stepping stone for its own ambitions?
Chen Gong would naturally declare war on them on behalf of the people of Southern Xinjiang. They would either be wiped out on the spot or forced to move north, north, and north again...
As for those who were unwilling to be too deeply involved with the State of Chu, but were still willing or could only accept coexistence, they would soon discover that the surrounding areas and the "neighbors" they were familiar with were beginning to gain far more than themselves in all aspects. More importantly, with the same manpower, they gained far more than themselves, and were also open to trade...
As time goes by, these tribes either cooperate with each other or migrate north, north, and north again.
The State of Chu did pay high subsidies, and there were few truly profitable development zones, but roads were built, the rudiments of a city were constructed, and people... gathered.
Some uninhabited areas that cannot be used now are also ensured to be surrounded by development zones, which naturally means that there are no secluded "paradise", and everything is gradually under control!
Moreover, from a long-term investment perspective, once the paths, which are narrow and rugged due to geographical conditions but can at least be used by wheelbarrows and carts, are built and popularized, Nanzhong will be able to turn its losses into profits as a whole.
It is much easier to develop South China now than in later generations, or even than during the Tang and Song dynasties - there are fewer people, and the demand for living resources is also not high.
Allowing the pioneer army to survive on fishing and hunting to a certain extent, the military expenditure is actually reduced a lot. Whether it is the specially trained pioneer army or the Wuxi Independent Division with Wuxi people as the source of soldiers, they are all familiar with these...
Now, this set of combined punches developed by Chen Gong is gradually being promoted among the Baiyue in southern Yangzhou and even overseas.
